Trouble understanding coaches..

[lilgymnast7]

I am now coached by 2 coaches both coming from a different country and they are still learning english. They have heavy accents when they speak they are unclear. They are teriffic at spotting but the problem is that when they try to give me advice I honestly can't make out what they are saying. I have given it a month to try and figure them out but it sounds like they are combining their language with english. I usually ask them kindly to repeat what they are saying because I can't understand them, but still after that I have no clue about what they are trying to say to me. I end up nodding my head and smiling. They are super gymnasts at the highest level and I know they probably have good advice. The other girls also have a difficult time making out what they are saying. I am still learning skills but I can't really correct them because of this. I talked to the other coaches telling them my problem and they told me that I can't really do anything about it. So I was just wondering if anyone had any other advice on this topic or how I could possibly handle this. Thanks so much!
*I am unsure of where these coaches came from and their original language. I would just like to make it clear that this post was not intended to insult or criticize their backrounds as I do respect them. I am just looking for advice on how to handle the situation.

 

[Lingualatina]

I had this problem too last year! My coaches were Chinese and Russian and it was so hard to understand them! Unfortunately there isn't much you can do...maybe ask all of your teammates if they have any idea what they coaches are trying to say. Or maybe you can ask questions
to the coaches using hand gestures - hopefully they will use them too. For example, use your hand to ask them what a certain body position should look like. hopefully if they are active coaches, they will see that you don't understand and try to explain in a different way. For example, sometimes my coach would use a doll to explain body positions to us (like on vault, pike bs hollow vs arch, etc). If none of this works, just try to make several different mistakes. It might sound CRAZY. But it works. Try not to make the same mistake, but try to make different mistakes...hopefully eventually you'll get it right! (even with foreign coaches, you always KNOW when you have it just right) This might be a bit difficult if you're
in the middle of your competition season though .

 

[gymdog]

Yeah, I don't think there's much you can do. This is still an adjustment period but in a little more time I think you'll find that everyone will learn to communicate. If they're trying to tell you something and you have an idea, but they don't seem to know the words, maybe you could prompt them like "would it help if I..." or ask specific questions like "are my legs straight?" and indicate straight or bent legs.